Al Milligan

Position: Chief operating officer, Wireless Matrix, a Reston company that provides wireless data services for business critical mobile communications for clients.

Career Highlights: Executive vice president, operations, and interim president, Wireless Matrix; vice president, operations, Wireless Matrix; vice president, mobile business unit, Wireless Matrix; chief operating officer, Norcom Networks; vice president, product development, Norcom Networks; director, business development, highway transportation, Rockwell International; product management and operations manager, highway transportation, Rockwell International; regional support manager, highway transportation, Rockwell International; production and operations manager, Fleetech; and inside sales coordinator, Jerguson Gauge and Valve.

Age: 52

Education: Coursework, liberal arts, Middlesex Community College.

Personal: Lives in Reston.

How did you get to where you are?

The career that I'm on really began at Fleetech. It was a start-up organization specializing in transportation management services, and we produced small devices that were installed on vehicles and recorded vehicle movement. In a very small organization, you wear a lot of hats. I was introduced to customer bases as well as our internal logistics for customer care, manufacturing and service delivery. I learned technologies concerning software for logistics management and helped Fleetech achieve improved performance on its vehicle-based assets.

In 1984, Fleetech was sold. Rather than relocating, I accepted a position with a competitor, Rockwell International. Rockwell International had the industry-leading version of our product. Those were very much formative years that required a lot of self-motivation and establishing a work ethic. There was no office. I worked out of my home providing distributor and customer support. It was great experience working with a large number of small independent distributors that were very much dependent on me. Their success was based on my capabilities, my motivation and my focus on their business and our customers' use of their products. It was a very educational position, and after five years, I was promoted to product management and operations manager.

All of the peers who I had as a regional field employee became part of my staff. My charter was to fix all of the things that were frustrating to a field employee. And there were some great mentors. The programs and training continue to serve me to this day. I was exposed to and engaged in a lot of the business functions focusing primarily on product development, customer care, management, training and order fulfillment processes. We introduced a couple of products and technologies. One of them was compliance-related data, and the second product was wireless communications for real-time data transfer. Those technologies are employed at Wireless Matrix today as we continue to evolve and advance that technology. While I served as the director of business development, we implemented several multi-mode communications platforms for the transportation industry. I had exposure to emerging technology both on the software front as well as the wireless segment of the business.

In 1995, I had an opportunity to join a six-employee start-up focused on the next generation of wireless technology and bringing that into the marketplace. That company was Norcom Networks. The challenge was to develop the product differentiation and services that allowed us to compete against very large organizations -- develop the business culture, the technology and the philosophy. We developed and implemented a lot of strategies and tools over the years, and the principal one was extending to the customer base the tools and capabilities for them to manage their wireless deployments. As we evolved to the next phase, we were acquired by Wireless Matrix and became its mobile business unit.

The lesson learned is to remain focused and committed to the strategy and road map. It's all too easy in a small organization to be a moth to a flame, where you migrate to one given opportunity or sales potential. My advice would consistently be to remember the goal line, focus on achieving those goals and not be too concerned on the individual steps but that the goal is achieved. The rest will take care of itself.

-- Judith Mbuya